Abstract: The article deals with the causes and history of the emergence and activities of the "All-Russian Organization of Underground Anarchists" (VOAP), which began its activities after the deterioration of relations between anarchists and Bolsheviks. This paper reveals the reasons for the emergence of the organization, the motives of its terrorist activities. The author has researched and analyzed the literary heritage of the underground anarchists, studied the works devoted to the activities of this organization. All this made it possible to form an objective opinion about the activities, goals and objectives of this organization. The object of the study is the activity of the VOAP. The subject of the study is the history of the organization's formation, its propaganda and terrorist activities. According to the author, the VOAP originated from among the most radical anarchists who were dissatisfied and offended by the Bolsheviks, and their motives were revenge rather than revolutionary struggle. The roots of the motives of the "underground workers" lay in the events of the disarmament and defeat of anarchist groups by the Bolsheviks in the spring of 1918 and the subsequent repression of representatives of the left opposition. The terrorist attack carried out by the Moscow group VOAPA and its consequences not only did not become the beginning of the "third revolution", but on the contrary, alienated some sympathizers. The transition of the "underground" to individual terror was caused by revenge motives.